For many observers outside China, the National People's Congress (NPC) is often dismissed as a ceremonial legislature. Yet one overlooked aspect of its legal framework deserves far greater international attention: the NPC is explicitly authorized to hold secret sessions, while simultaneously transitioning its meeting documents into an electronic system.
Individually, neither of these provisions is unique. Many legislatures around the world have procedures for handling classified information. However, China's political system differs in one crucial respect: the NPC operates within a one-party state in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) exercises leadership over the political system, the military, and the legislative process. That institutional context fundamentally changes the transparency and accountability implications of secret legislative proceedings.
Secret Sessions Are Explicitly Authorized
Article 19 of the Rules of Procedure of the National People's Congress provides that the NPC may convene secret sessions "when necessary." The decision is made through internal procedures involving the Presidium after consulting delegation leaders.
This means that China's highest state legislative body has a formal legal mechanism allowing deliberations to occur outside public scrutiny. This system has operated at least since 1989.
Legislative Documents Are Being Fully Digitalized
Article 22 of the same Rules promotes the digitalization of meeting documents through modern information technology.
Taken together, these provisions create the possibility that materials associated with secret sessions—including agendas, reports, draft decisions, briefing documents, amendments, and internal deliberation materials—may primarily exist and circulate in electronic form rather than through extensive printed documentation.
Digitalization undoubtedly offers administrative efficiencies. However, when combined with legally authorized secret sessions, it may also reduce the amount of publicly accessible documentary evidence available for later historical research, independent verification, or institutional accountability.
The Military Is Directly Represented Inside the Legislature
Another distinctive feature of the NPC is the existence of a separate delegation composed of active-duty People's Liberation Army (PLA) representatives.
Unlike many democratic legislatures where the armed forces do not participate as a voting bloc inside parliament, the PLA delegation is an institutional component of the NPC itself.
中共国全国人大常委会2023年第2号发布了《中华人民共和国第十四届全国人民代表大会代表名单》,确认PLA代表团的全国人大代表数量为281名,其中一个PLA全国人大代表是陈薇(女)。https://t.co/Mvz65o56Ge pic.twitter.com/R0gL2d1sbV
— CPA Jim (@CPAJim2021) April 21, 2026
This becomes particularly relevant whenever legislation or state decisions involve national defense, military affairs, national security, or wartime mobilization.
Secrecy Is Reinforced by China's State Secrets System
China's legal framework also includes an extensive state secrets regime.
If information discussed during a secret NPC session is classified as a state secret under Chinese law, unauthorized disclosure may trigger administrative, disciplinary, or criminal liability.
From the perspective of the Chinese authorities, this is intended to protect national security.
From the perspective of outside observers, however, it also means that independent verification of significant legislative deliberations may become extremely difficult.
Why This Matters Beyond China
The international significance lies not in the mere existence of secret legislative procedures.
Rather, it lies in the combination of several institutional characteristics:
A legislature legally authorized to hold secret sessions.
Increasing reliance on digital-only legislative documentation.
A dedicated delegation of active-duty military representatives participating within the legislature.
A comprehensive legal framework governing state secrets and unauthorized disclosures.
Together, these features may reduce the transparency of legislative decision-making on issues that could affect not only China's domestic governance but also regional security, military policy, technological competition, economic regulation, and international relations.
Transparency Is a Global Security Issue
As China's influence expands, decisions made through its legislative institutions increasingly carry consequences far beyond its borders.
For this reason, scholars, journalists, policymakers, archivists, and human rights organizations should pay closer attention not only to the outcomes of NPC decisions, but also to the institutional processes through which those decisions are made.
Understanding those processes—including the legal authorization for secret sessions, the digitalization of legislative records, and the interaction between legislative secrecy and China's state secrets system—is essential for evaluating transparency, accountability, and governance in one of the world's most consequential political systems.
The issue is not whether every secret session conceals misconduct. The issue is that institutional opacity limits independent scrutiny precisely when decisions may have the greatest public significance.
For governments, researchers, and civil society around the world, that is a transparency challenge worthy of sustained attention.








